Romans 11 ends in much the same way as Romans 8. In both chapters, we see God’s purpose and His electing mercy. So it is no surprise that chapter 12 begins with an appeal based on the mercies of God. We now enter the exhortational, practical section of the letter. There is only one proper response to the overwhelming compassion God has shown us in the Gospel: we present our bodies to God as a sacrifice—alive, dedicated, and given over to Him. This is reasonable, thoughtful service, and it is pleasing to Him.
In Romans 6:13, Paul showed that deliverance from sin’s service comes by yielding ourselves to God and our bodily members as instruments of righteousness. It was to be a definite, once-for-all act — something settled. The exhortation here is almost the same. Each of us should remember whether there has ever been a moment when, conscious of God’s abundant mercy — perhaps even overwhelmed by it — we deliberately presented our bodies to Him as something set apart for His use. Once, each of us regarded our bodies as the vehicle for expressing our own will. We essentially said, “I’m in charge of my body, and it will serve my desires.” Have we now handed it over to Another, so that it may serve His will and be used for His work and His glory? Until we do this, we are not really offering Him intelligent service. We cannot truly understand the Gospel and fail to see that such a response is the only fitting one.
Of course, this will involve what verse 2 instructs. We will not conform to this world — or “age” — because we will be shaped instead by the will of God. But God has His own way of accomplishing this. Sometimes we see Christians who areconformedto this age, and their bodies give clear evidence of it. Sometimes we seereformedChristians working very hard to imitate Christ and live as He would live. But what we are called to be here istransformedChristians — the transformation beginning within the mind and working outward into the body.
This verse does not describe what God doesfor us, but what we are to do. The responsibility is placed on us. We are not to be shaped by this age; we are to be transformed. Both the negative and the positive sides of this must be lived out day by day. The renewing of our minds and the transformation that follows are not events that happen once and for all, but processes to be maintained and deepened throughout life.
Since Scripture commands us to be transformed through renewed minds, we should ask how our minds can be renewed. The answer is: by having them shaped according to God’s thoughts instead of our own. And how is that accomplished? By saturating our minds with God’s Word, which communicates His thoughts to us. As we read and study Scripture in prayerful dependence on the Spirit’s illumination, our thinking itself and our way of thinking are renewed.
Here lies the true path of Christian holiness. We are not called to laboriously follow a moral code, nor simply to imitate the life of Christ. Rather, we are brought into contact with something that changes our entire way of thinking, and therefore transforms our entire way of living. In this way, we discover God’s will for ourselves and find it to be good, pleasing, and perfect. What is good in God’s sight will be good to us because our minds will have been brought into harmony with His.
The very first area where this renewed thinking—and therefore our non-conformity to the world’s way—will show itself is in our view of ourselves. Naturally, each of us thinks far too highly of himself. We have not learned to take our true measure before God. The more our minds are renewed, the more clearly we see ourselves as God sees us, and we discover that what matters to God is the measure of our faith. Faith brings God into our lives; therefore, the measure of our faith determines our spiritual stature. We once heard a Christian say of another, with some gravity and sadness, “If we could buy that good brother for the price others put on him, and sell him for the price he puts on himself, we’d make a huge profit!” God help us to think soberly about ourselves, realizing that neither intellect, nor status, nor money, nor natural abilities determine anything in themselves.Faithis what matters.
The truth is that even the greatest among us is only a small part of a much larger whole. This is emphasized in verses 4 and 5, where, for the first time in this letter, we are told that, though saved individually, we are not meant to remain isolated individuals. We are brought into a unity — the church of God. We are one body in Christ, and each believer is a member of that body. The practical result is that each member has a different function — just as the parts of our physical bodies do — and no one has all the functions, nor anything close to all of them.
Verses 6–15 show how this works in practice. Each believer has a gift according to the grace given, so each should recognize their part and carry it out in the right spirit. The one who prophesies, for example, must do so in proportion to his faith. His knowledge may exceed his faith, but he must not speak beyond his faith. If this guideline were followed, much unprofitable talking in Christian gatherings would disappear. Likewise, the one who gives should give with sincerity; the one who shows mercy should do it cheerfully, not performing a kind act in an unkind manner—and so on. These directions need little comment, except to clarify that “Not slothful in business” really means “Not lazy in diligent zeal.” It doesnotrefer to eagerness in worldly occupations.
The final verses of the chapter provide broader instructions about what behavior pleases God. Humility; honesty; a peace-loving spirit; refusal to engage in the world’s pattern of retaliation; love expressed in active kindness that “repays” evil with good — these are pleasing to God, and they are pleasing to us insofar as our minds have been renewed to reflect His. The figure of “heaping coals of fire” on an enemy’s head comes from Psalm 140:10. The psalmist prayed for this in the spirit appropriate to the age of the law. Our verse shows the Christian way of accomplishing it.
We may say, then, that Romans 12 lays out the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God for us in many practical details. Many of these features are not valued by the world. Some traits—like honesty in paying debts or refusing revenge when wronged—will be appreciated by unbelievers as long as they benefit from them. But only the believer with a renewed mind sees the beauty of all these things.
And only the believer whose renewed mind is producing an actual transformation in his life will truly begin to practice them.
Romans 12 – The Transformed Christian Life
Romans 11 ends in much the same way as Romans 8. In both chapters, we see God’s purpose and His electing mercy. So it is no surprise that chapter 12 begins with an appeal based on the mercies of God. We now enter the exhortational, practical section of the letter. There is only one proper response to the overwhelming compassion God has shown us in the Gospel: we present our bodies to God as a sacrifice—alive, dedicated, and given over to Him. This is reasonable, thoughtful service, and it is pleasing to Him.
In Romans 6:13, Paul showed that deliverance from sin’s service comes by yielding ourselves to God and our bodily members as instruments of righteousness. It was to be a definite, once-for-all act — something settled. The exhortation here is almost the same. Each of us should remember whether there has ever been a moment when, conscious of God’s abundant mercy — perhaps even overwhelmed by it — we deliberately presented our bodies to Him as something set apart for His use. Once, each of us regarded our bodies as the vehicle for expressing our own will. We essentially said, “I’m in charge of my body, and it will serve my desires.” Have we now handed it over to Another, so that it may serve His will and be used for His work and His glory? Until we do this, we are not really offering Him intelligent service. We cannot truly understand the Gospel and fail to see that such a response is the only fitting one.
Of course, this will involve what verse 2 instructs. We will not conform to this world — or “age” — because we will be shaped instead by the will of God. But God has His own way of accomplishing this. Sometimes we see Christians who are conformed to this age, and their bodies give clear evidence of it. Sometimes we see reformed Christians working very hard to imitate Christ and live as He would live. But what we are called to be here is transformed Christians — the transformation beginning within the mind and working outward into the body.
This verse does not describe what God does for us, but what we are to do. The responsibility is placed on us. We are not to be shaped by this age; we are to be transformed. Both the negative and the positive sides of this must be lived out day by day. The renewing of our minds and the transformation that follows are not events that happen once and for all, but processes to be maintained and deepened throughout life.
Since Scripture commands us to be transformed through renewed minds, we should ask how our minds can be renewed. The answer is: by having them shaped according to God’s thoughts instead of our own. And how is that accomplished? By saturating our minds with God’s Word, which communicates His thoughts to us. As we read and study Scripture in prayerful dependence on the Spirit’s illumination, our thinking itself and our way of thinking are renewed.
Here lies the true path of Christian holiness. We are not called to laboriously follow a moral code, nor simply to imitate the life of Christ. Rather, we are brought into contact with something that changes our entire way of thinking, and therefore transforms our entire way of living. In this way, we discover God’s will for ourselves and find it to be good, pleasing, and perfect. What is good in God’s sight will be good to us because our minds will have been brought into harmony with His.
The very first area where this renewed thinking—and therefore our non-conformity to the world’s way—will show itself is in our view of ourselves. Naturally, each of us thinks far too highly of himself. We have not learned to take our true measure before God. The more our minds are renewed, the more clearly we see ourselves as God sees us, and we discover that what matters to God is the measure of our faith. Faith brings God into our lives; therefore, the measure of our faith determines our spiritual stature. We once heard a Christian say of another, with some gravity and sadness, “If we could buy that good brother for the price others put on him, and sell him for the price he puts on himself, we’d make a huge profit!” God help us to think soberly about ourselves, realizing that neither intellect, nor status, nor money, nor natural abilities determine anything in themselves. Faith is what matters.
The truth is that even the greatest among us is only a small part of a much larger whole. This is emphasized in verses 4 and 5, where, for the first time in this letter, we are told that, though saved individually, we are not meant to remain isolated individuals. We are brought into a unity — the church of God. We are one body in Christ, and each believer is a member of that body. The practical result is that each member has a different function — just as the parts of our physical bodies do — and no one has all the functions, nor anything close to all of them.
Verses 6–15 show how this works in practice. Each believer has a gift according to the grace given, so each should recognize their part and carry it out in the right spirit. The one who prophesies, for example, must do so in proportion to his faith. His knowledge may exceed his faith, but he must not speak beyond his faith. If this guideline were followed, much unprofitable talking in Christian gatherings would disappear. Likewise, the one who gives should give with sincerity; the one who shows mercy should do it cheerfully, not performing a kind act in an unkind manner—and so on. These directions need little comment, except to clarify that “Not slothful in business” really means “Not lazy in diligent zeal.” It does not refer to eagerness in worldly occupations.
The final verses of the chapter provide broader instructions about what behavior pleases God. Humility; honesty; a peace-loving spirit; refusal to engage in the world’s pattern of retaliation; love expressed in active kindness that “repays” evil with good — these are pleasing to God, and they are pleasing to us insofar as our minds have been renewed to reflect His. The figure of “heaping coals of fire” on an enemy’s head comes from Psalm 140:10. The psalmist prayed for this in the spirit appropriate to the age of the law. Our verse shows the Christian way of accomplishing it.
We may say, then, that Romans 12 lays out the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God for us in many practical details. Many of these features are not valued by the world. Some traits—like honesty in paying debts or refusing revenge when wronged—will be appreciated by unbelievers as long as they benefit from them. But only the believer with a renewed mind sees the beauty of all these things.
And only the believer whose renewed mind is producing an actual transformation in his life will truly begin to practice them.
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